An Ending
by ZVArmy
Summary: The time has come for Lucy Thorne to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. (Conclusion to my Lucy/Seth series)


_A/N: This is the final part of my Lucy Thorne/Seth Rollins series. If you are new to it, you can find a list of the stories in the series on my profile page._

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For the first time ever, a woman was going to be the headline induction at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. The woman in question was Lucy Rollins, still known on-screen in WWE by her maiden name Lucy Thorne. Lucy had retired two years previously, losing in the main event of Wrestlemania to her adopted daughter, in a moment that was fondly remembered by most of the WWE Universe.

That loss had brought to an end to a career in which Lucy had broken almost every conceivable record in WWE for women's wrestling, most of which would likely not be broken again.

Ahead of the ceremony, each Hall of Fame inductee was allowed to select a wrestler, past or present, to induct them. For Lucy, the choice had been an easy one. Alexa Bliss, a former multi-time Raw and Smackdown Women's Champion, had been her best friend since early on in Lucy's career. The bond between them was a strong now as it had ever been, so Alexa hadn't hesitated to accept the honour.

Renee Young was the host for the evening. Standing in the ring, which had been specially arranged with ropes on three sides and a wide set of steps on the other, and an expensive glass podium in the shape of the WWE logo in the centre, she looked at the hard camera and smiled. "It is now time for our final induction of the night. Please welcome Alexa Bliss!"

Alexa had retired earlier than Lucy, calling time abruptly on her career when she had found out that she was pregnant. She and her husband Dean Ambrose had been blessed with a son, and since then Alexa had only made sporadic one off appearances for WWE, mainly in Royal Rumble matches.

A cheer and a round of applause greeted Alexa's music. Another cheer went up when she walked out onto the stage, looking resplendent in a long silver sleeveless dress. Smiling broadly, she walked down the entrance ramp and up the steps into the ring.

As Alexa reached the podium, her music faded out. The applause continued, with Alexa waiting it out with a smile on her face. "Thank you," she said eventually, briefly looking around at the crowd. "What an honour it is to be here at the Hall of Fame ceremony. When I first got the call from Lucy Thorne to say that she was being inducted, and she wanted me to be the one to induct her, I laughed. A confusing reaction for her, as I'm sure you can imagine. The reason I laughed is this: In that moment I remembered back to a conversation she and I had a long time ago. We were talking about the Hall of Fame, and I said I thought she could make it there one day. Lucy said, 'No chance. I'll have pissed Hunter and Stephanie off too much by then.'"

Laugher filled the arena. Hunter was backstage producing the show, but Stephanie was shown in the front row, laughing along with everyone else. Everyone knew it was a typical thing for Lucy to say, and at times it had probably come close to being true.

"I guess somehow she didn't manage to piss them off that much," Alexa said with a laugh of her own. "But in all seriousness, Lucy Thorne has had an amazing career, to say the very least. And I've been lucky enough to be by her side for most of it. What a friend. What a career. What a woman. It is my utmost pleasure to induct into this year's Hall of Fame, Lucy Thorne!"

Alexa looked towards the stage, and Lucy's music began to play. A loud cheer filled the arean, then almost as one the crowd rose to their feet. A standing ovation was the only proper way to welcome statistically the best female wrestler in WWE history.

Showboating for the crowd had never been Lucy's thing. The big smile she had on her face as she walked out onto the stage was about as much as they could have hoped for. Unusually for her, she was wearing a dress and had her hair stylishly crimped especially for the occasion. The dress was a black number which complimented her figure perfectly and told anyone who saw it that it was incredibly expensive, without being garish about it.

Lucy walked down the ramp and slowly up the steps into the ring. Alexa was waiting for her, and they exchanged a hug, Lucy towering over her friend in the way that had at one time made them such a unique tag team.

"Thank you for that, Lexi. I appreciate it," Lucy said as they embraced.

"Congratulations again. I'm so proud of you. I love you," Alexa replied.

They parted, leaving Lucy to walk up to the podium. Her music faded out, no longer drowning out the applause coming from throughout the arena. Lucy stood there and waited for it to die down and for the fans to retake their seats before she said anything.

When the time came, she stepped up to the microphone and said, "Thanks. Thank you." She made as if to leave, having completed her speech. Everyone laughed, appreciated the joke she was making at herself for often being a woman of few words.

Smiling, Lucy returned to the podium, almost laughing herself. "But seriously, thank you for that reception. It means a lot to me to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, as do all of the others honours and accolades that have come my way over the years. As you know well, I'm not a woman of many words. I do, however want to thank some people because the fact that I'm standing here right now most certainly isn't solely down to me."

There were a couple of shots of members of the current women's roster in WWE, listening attentively with smiles on their faces.

"First off, thank you to Alexa Bliss," Lucy said, drawing applause from the crowd. "Thank you for that lovely induction speech, and for your friendship over the years. I'm the first to admit that I'm sometimes not the easiest person to be friends with, yet Alexa has been there for me no matter what. I can honestly say we've never had a serious fight; we've never been at each other's throats; we've always been there for each other. I appreciate it so much, and when the day comes, and it will come, for Alexa to take her place in the Hall of Fame, I'll be there like she's been here for me tonight."

At the mention of Alexa being inducted, some of the fans had started a 'Yes!' chant.

Nodding her agreement with the chant, Lucy waited a moment before continuing. "I definitely want to thank Stephanie McMahon."

Most of the fans cheered or applauded. A few people decided to boo, presumably thinking they were funny for booing one of the bosses. Stephanie was shown smiling graciously.

"It was Stephanie who brought me to WWE after seeing me at an MMA event. As the story goes, she set her eyes on me and fell in love right away."

There was more laughter, including from Stephanie, who hadn't just heard that line for the first time.

"I don't know about all of that," Lucy continued. "What I can say is, although I wasn't totally convinced about a career as a wrestler, Stephanie persuaded me to sign, and I decided to do it. It's a simple fact that I was a long way from a model employee my first few years in WWE. At times, I'm sure I was considered a pain in the arse. But Stephanie was a voice of wisdom for me. She was always there to take me aside for five minutes and explain why things were happening the way they were happening, and I'll always be thankful for that. I'd like to think I've paid her back since with the amount of money I've made her."

A ripple of laughter went around the arena and the wrestlers sitting in the floor seats. Stephanie was shown joining in, before she could be lip read saying, "You've not done so badly yourself."

The comment actually made Lucy laugh, something most fans had probably never seen before. "She's saying I didn't do too badly myself. I guess I can't argue with that."

After a momentary pause, she moved on. "There's a rule for the Hall of Fame. It's even on a big notice stuck on the wall back there. We're not supposed to mention Hunter. Well, I've never been all that great at doing what I'm told, so I'm going to say thank you, Hunter, for everything."

Loud applause filled the arena. Lucy smiled in approval of it. With her heartfelt words, she had made her point simply, and effectively.

Lucy waited for the chant to die down before moving on. "The next person I want to thank is my daughter, Clementine."

Upon the mention of her name, Clementine Rollins was shown sitting in the front row, watching her adopted mother with immense pride. Unusually for her, but appropriately for the ceremony, she was wearing a white dress and no baseball cap.

Hearing her name and seeing her on the big screen, the crowd went wild. It was the loudest cheer of the night. Clementine was always popular with the fans, but this particular reaction was thunderous because of the fact that she had been out of action for the past few months with an injury. Two years earlier, she had been in the main event of Wrestlemania. This year she would be missing the event entirely, much to everyone's disappointment.

In that moment, however, disappointment was the last thing on the crowd's minds. A deafening 'Clem!' chant went up, reverberating around the arena.

Clementine smiled, both at the words of her mother and the rapturous response from the fans. She did nothing to play up to it, though. This was not her night.

"For those who don't know," Lucy went on, "Clem has been in my life since she was ten. I never imagined I would have a child. I certainly never wanted to get pregnant. But adoption was something I hadn't considered. Since I became Clem's adopted mother, I have learned what an amazing gift it actually is to have a child. I have done my best to raise her in a way that her birth mother would have approved of, and I couldn't be more proud..." Lucy choked up suddenly and had to stop.

The uncharacteristic display of emotion came as a surprise to everyone. The crowd helped out by starting a 'Lucy Thorne' chant, giving her a bit of time to sort herself out.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy composed herself and managed to go on. "I couldn't be more proud of the woman Clementine has become. She's a role model to so many people, she does amazing work for charity, and as you all know by now, she was recently engaged to Logan McMahon."

A different shot of Clementine was shown on the screen while the fans applauded, this time including her partner in the picture. Logan smiled in acknowledgement of Lucy mentioning him.

"Logan, somehow I've not strangled you yet, so I think you're past the worst of it," Lucy said, a mischievous smile on her face. The audience laughed, but the Rollins and McMahon families both knew that in the past there had been a lot of problems between Logan and Lucy, protective mother that she was.

Lucy directed her attention back to her daughter. "Clem, I can honestly say that you're a better woman than I am, and a better wrestler than I was. You're also a better daughter than anyone could wish for. I'm proud of you, and I love you. Thank you for making me the happiest mother in the world."

Another cheer went up. Clementine was shown wiping a tear from her eye.

"And then we come to the person I have to thank most of all," Lucy said. "There is absolutely no chance I would be standing her right now if it weren't for my husband, Seth Rollins."

The fans roared their approval as Seth was shown for the first time, sitting next to Clementine. He was dressed in a black suit and light grey shirt, and had his hair cut short, a relatively recent change that was still new to some of the fans as he had been retired from WWE for some time.

"Seth would be the first to tell you all that in my early days with WWE, I was a nightmare. I was awkward, making more effort to get under people's skin in the locker room than to get along with them. I didn't take wrestling seriously, and I didn't value the opportunity that I had been given with WWE. I can say all that now because Seth's the one who helped me to change it all. He got me on the straight and narrow, and he kept me there. Throughout our marriage, Seth, you've always been my rock. I'm not easy to live with sometimes, I know that. Thank you so much for your love, your support, and for being a truly incredible father to Clementine. I don't know how I got lucky enough to have you in my life, but I'm so glad I have."

As the fans cheered and applauded, Seth was shown again. It was easy to make out that he said, "I love you."

"I love you too," Lucy said warmly.

With that, it was time for her to wrap up her speech. "Lastly, I want to say thank you to all of the women I shared a ring with down the years, and I want to thank all of you guys, the WWE Universe. I never would have achieved what I achieved in my career without the great opponents I got to work with, or without the support I received from fans around the world. I truly am grateful for all of it, and I am so thankful for the chance to stand in front of you tonight and take my place in the WWE Hall of Fame. Thank you. Thank you so much."

Realising that the speech was over, fans and wrestlers alike rose to their feet, all applauding and many cheering.

Lucy's music began to play as she acknowledged first the wrestlers, then the crowd. Applauding them in return, she did a slow three sixty so that everyone in the building was included in her gratitude.

A 'Lucy Thorne' chant took hold for the second time in the night as she walked over to the steps and left the ring.

The show came to a close with a shot of Lucy walking into the arms of Seth and Clementine, for a three way Rollins family hug.


End file.
